Securing means for printing forms



Sept. 3,1935;

H. s ns BORN SECURING mums FOR rnmfmc- FORMS Filed 2 She et s-Sheet 1 Patented Sept. 3, i935 SECURING :MEANS FOR PRINTING FORMS Henry C. Osborn, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Multigraph Company Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application November 15, 1933, Serial No.'s9s,o39

14 Claims. 01. rel-415.1)

This inventionrelates to means. for adjusting and holding a flexible member in desired position in a printing machine.

image in accurate position.

- With certain classes of printing it is very important that the image be located accurately with reference to the paper to be printed, as for instance, where the image. has straight lines which should be parallel with the marginal edge of the paper, where inaccuracies in position of My invention provides for eifecting the ac v curate; presentation to the paper of an image which may not be accurately located on the plate. This I accomplish by shifting one or both ends of the printing plate longitudinally a slight distance to compensate for inaccuracies in the location of the image. I have provided a simple mechanism mounted within the drum' associated with the means for anchoring the ends of t the plate, so that such ends may be shifted as desired in one direction or the other, after the plate is on the drum.

While my shiftable securing means is primarily of value for the image-carrying plate, it may be employed on the blanket holding drum of an offset press, and then enables the seating of the blanket with the desired smoothness.

All of the features referred to are included within my invention, as is also the more specific embodiment thereof illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully explained.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical section through an offset planographic press, both the plate drum and transfer drum of which are equipped with my shiftable securing means; Fig. 2 is a view of the plate drum with the printingv plate'mounted thereon; Fig. 3 is a plan of one .of the plate-securing units removed; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the. plate securing unit in place,

' this view being a longitudinal section on the line 4-4 of Figs. 2 and 5; Fig.5 is a section on a larger scale through one of the tensioning de- It is especially useful in connection with holding lithographic plates 5 under proper tension and with the vices of the securing-unit, as indicated by the line 5-5 on Fig. 3;

As shown in Fig. 1, Ill indicates one of the side standards of a suitable upright frame in which is mounted a plate-carrying drum ll, transfer drum'lZ, and .a roller platen l3. The pianographicplate II on the plate-carrying drum is inked by a pair of inking rollers I 5, shown as engaging a supply or distributing roller IS. Thetransfer blanket is illustrated as a rubber facing I! on a metal sheet l8, which projects beyond the rubber facing. 'My invention provides 1 means for engaging the projecting ends of the printing late I4 or the metal portion l8 of the transfer lanket to adjust, tension and retain such member, as about to be explained. As the construction of the plate-carrying drum and transfer drum may be identical, I will describe itin detail only .with reference to the plate-carrying drum, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This drum has an internally ribbed segmental wall 20, mounted on end members 2|, secured to an axial shaft 22. There is a considerable gap between the ends and the segmental .wall

20.- On that side'of the shaft 22 which is m- 25 ward the gap are a pair of rods 25 stationarily. carried by the end walls 2| of the drum. These rods. 25 carry the swinging and shifting tensioning mechanism about to be described.

The planographic plate I4 is shown as having a sinuous edge, back of which are slots I 9 .for the passage of the tensioninghooks. The

tensioning. device for each end of the plate com prises a bar 30, having hooks 3| to occupy the slots IQ of the plate, the face of the bar, as shown, being recessedas at 32 to receive the serpentine edge of the plate.

The bar is provided with a centralarm 33, which loosely surrounds the corresponding rod 25 in its mid-region, and with two arms 34, which may rest against the rod 25, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The engagement of the arms 34 with the corresponding rod 25 of the drum limits the movement of the two anchorage bars toward each other. Tension springs 50 attached to the arms 34. and to the interior of the drumtend to pull these arms into engagement with;

' the rod '25. Each arm 34 is provided with a A screw 38 havinga knurled head by which it may applied, and then the plate may be placed over the hooks of the respective bars 30 and the screws 38 of one or both bars turned in to tension the plate, as shown in Fig. 1.

The peculiar characteristic of my invention, namely, the shifting of the ends of the plates longitudinally as may be required, according to the position of the image on the plate, is accomplished by means of .a longitudinal member shiftably connected to the bar 30 and abutting the inner faces of the drum ends. By changing the relation of this member to the bar 30, the bar is moved longitudinally of itself and at the same time allowed to swing out of parallelism to the drum axis, and thus the plate anchored to the bar is skewed in one direction or the other I to present the image accurately.

As shown in the drawings, the longitudinal member above referred to comprises a rod 40,

slidably mounted in ears 35 and 36," on the arm 33 andone of the arms 34; an aligned rod 4| threaded in the ear 3'] in the other arm 34, and a threaded connection between the two rods. This latter threaded connection is shown as effected by a sleeve 42 pinned to the rod 4| and internallythreaded to receive the threaded end of the rod 40. A iamb nut 431serves to lock the adjustment between the rod 40 and the sleeve 42. The sleeve 42 has an angular exterior and there may be an angular boss 44 provided on the rod 40, whereby either of such members may be turned or held by awrench. I' also provide a,

length of this composite member may be adjusted by turning the rod 40 into or out of the sleeve 42.

Inoperation, after the plate is placed on the anchoring hooks 3| and the screws 38 tightened, a test is made by taking an imprint to determine the location of the image. If the image is not in the right position, the operator loosens the nut 45 and applying a wrench to the sleeve 42, turns the whole composite rod in one direction or the other to shift the end of the plate. The clamping hooks 38 may, if necessary, be slightly loosened for this operation. This shifting of the plate may be effected at one or both ends, as desired. Fig. 2 shows both ends of the plate shifted to an exaggerated degree.

The ends of the composite rod- 4|l-4| should firmly abut the inner faces of the drum ends 2| to prevent even a minute longitudinal shifting of the plate in use, As the skewing of the plate may loosen slightly the engagement of the ends of the composite rods with the drum ends, such longitudinal member is then slightly extended to make a tight engagement with the drum ends by applying a wrench to the boss 44 while a holdbe accurately-positioned on the plate. when located, the plate is held veryflrmly in the drum.

My securing device is also useful on the transfer drum, as it furnishes means for smoothing'the blanket, should there be irregularities in its manufacture or stretching due to use.

I claim:

1. The combination of a flexible plate having a scalloped endwith openings through it adjacent the scallops, and a drum adapted to support such plate and having an attaching bar recessed to receive the-scalloped end of the plate and having projections adapted/to pass through the openings in the plate, means for shifting said attaching bar lengthwise of itself while changing its angular position, and means for clamping the bar in its new position.

2. The combination of a drum having a gap, a longitudinal rod rigidly carried by the drum, a frame within the gap having means for attachment to a flexible member embracing the drum, said frame having a central arm loosely.

by the attaching device and abutting stops on the drum, and means for shifting said rod longitudinally with reference to the attaching device to shift that end of the plate.

4. The combination of a drum having an opening, an attaching bar located in the opening having means for anchoring the end of a plate embracing the drum, said bar being mounted to swing and shift longitudinally with reference to the drum, means for pushing the bar away from the edge of the drum opening to tension the plate, and a rod carried by the attaching device and abutting the inner surface of the drum ends, said rod being of adjustable. length, and means for shifting the rod relative to the attaching devices.

' 5. The combination of a drum having a gap, anattaching frame located in the gap and pivotally and slidably connected with the drum,

screws passing through the frame and adapted to abut'the drum, and a longitudinally shiftable rod abutting the inner faces of the drum ends and intermediately adjustably connected to the attaching frame.

6. The combination of a drum having an openin an attaching device -mounted in the opening having. means for anchoring it to a plate embracing the drum, said attaching device having screws adapted to bear against the drum, having a central arm loosely connected to the drum whereby the attaching devicemay swing, a longitudinally shiftable rod engaging the inner ends of the drum and having a threaded connection with the attaching device, whereby the attaching device may be shifted longitudinally.

.7. The combination ofa drum having a gap, a longitudinal rod carried by the drum adjacent the gap, a central arm loosely pivoted on the rod, an attaching bar extending longitudinally rigidly connected with the central arm, a pair of arms rigid with the attaching bar and located respectively on opposite sides of the central arm, and each adapted to contact with the drum rod but free from binding engagement therewith, screws passing through the pair of arms adapted to abut the drum, and a longitudinally shiftable member abutting the inner faces of the drum ends and intermediately adjustably connected to the attaching bar. 4

8. The combination of a drum having an opening, an attaching bar mounted in the opening and having hooks adapted to pass through openingsin a plate, said bar having a central arm pivotally and slidably connected with the drum, a rod carried by the par and at its ends engaging the drum, said rod being adjustable as to length and having a threaded engagement with the attaching bar; 1

9. The combination of a drum having an opening, an attaching frame located in said opening and being centrally and slidably pivoted, a pair of screws carried by the attaching frame and bearing against the drum to force either end of the frame variably away from'the edge of the drum surface, and a rod carried by said frame and at its ends abutting the inner surface of the drum ends, said rod having a threaded engagement with said frame.

10. The combination of a plate having a row of openings adjacent its end, a device for shiftably attaching the end of the plate in a printing machine comprising a bar having projections for entering said openings of the plate, a red having athreaded engagement with the bar and adapted to abut a stop carried by the support for the plate, and another rod having a threaded engagement with'the first-mentioned rod and adapted to abut another stop on the member carrying the plate.

11; The combination of a drum having a gap, an attaching frame located within the gap having means for anchoring it to a plate extending about the drum, said frame being pivotally and slidably connected with the drum, and an extensible member carried by the frame and adapted at its opposite ends to abut stops on the drum, said member being composed of two aligned rods one of which is threaded to the attaching frame, the other of which is slidably mounted on-the attaching frame and threaded to the first-mentioned rod.

12. The combination of a drum, a flexible plate adapted to embrace the drum and having a row of openings across its end, an attaching bar on the drum having a row of projections adapted to enter the openings of the plate, means for shifting said attaching bar lengthwise of the drum and means for clamping it in a position out of parallelism with the drum axis. j

13. In a printing machine, the combination of a drum having a gap, a. frame within the gap having a row of projections for attaching the end of a flexible member embracing the drum and having a row of openings across its end, said frame having a central pivotal sliding connection to the drum, and means carried by the frame for shifting it length-wise of the drum while allowing it to swing on its pivot.

14. The combination of a drum having a gap, a flexible plate embracing the drum and overhanging the gap, an attaching bar located in the gap and provided with means for anchoring it to the overhanging end of the plate; means for intermediately pivoting the attaching bar while allowing it to shift longitudinally, a longitudinal member which is carried by the attaching bar and is adapted to engage means on the drum, and means for shifting said member longitudinally with reference to the attaching bar to shift that end of the plate.

HENRY C. OSBORN. 

